WWIL Thursday, Connect: Social Well-Being
Well-Being Week In Law (WWIL) Thursday!
Today’s focus is: Connect – Social Well-Being
Social wellness focuses on building and nurturing meaningful, supportive, and quality relationships, having in-person connections, and feeling a sense of belonging with individuals, groups, and communities. It enables you to create boundaries that encourage communication, trust, and conflict management. Social wellness also includes showing respect for others, oneself, and other cultures. It is contributing to our groups and communities. Put you’re your technology, talk to each other, and build connections!
Connect (Social Well-Being): Maintaining strong social relationships is important for our physical health and is also critical for bolstering resilience and weathering adversity. Social well-being is perhaps the dimension that was most acutely impacted by the coronavirus—with stay-at-home orders effectively cutting off in-person contact with everyone outside of our households. But the pandemic has also revealed new and innovative ways for staying in touch with friends and family and working with our colleagues, classmates, and clients remotely. Some steps you can take to support your social well-being next week include reaching out to a friend or colleague that you have been meaning to reconnect with, writing a gratitude letter to someone who has made your life easier or happier in the last few weeks, or by focusing more on your relationships.
Below are some suggestions to bolster your connections and social well-being today!
Also consider the suggestions in the National Institute of Health’s toolkits below to start or continue building positive connections:
- https://www.nih.gov/health-information/social-wellness-toolkit
- https://www.nih.gov/health-information/social-wellness-toolkit-more-resources
Signs of Social Wellness
- Development of assertiveness skills not passive or aggressive ones.
- Balancing social and personal time.
- The ability to be who you are in all situations.
- Becoming engaged with other people in your community.
- Valuing diversity and treat others with respect.
- Continually being able to maintain and develop friendships and social networks.
- The ability to create boundaries within relationship boundaries that encourage communication, trust and conflict management.
- Remembering to have fun.
- Having supportive network of family and friends.
Check in with your social wellness
- How are you at asking for help?
- Do you surround yourself with people who you can trust and you know care about you?
- Are you able to communicate clearly when dealing with conflict?
- Do you have at least one good friend you can count on?
- How motivated are you to build a UNH community by getting involved with a student organization?
- Are you okay being alone?
You can foster your social wellness by:
- Reflecting on yourself and your social needs. What aspects of your social life do you enjoy? What parts would you like to improve?
- Making an effort to keep in touch with supportive friends, family and mentors.
- Participating in group discussions and practicing active listening.
- Joining a bar association, club, or organization.
- Volunteering in the community.